Dispensing mechanism



Get. 4, 1932. A. H. DU GRENIER DISPENSING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 16. 1932 I Patented Oct. 4, 1932 y 1 p IY UNET' STATES PA'rsar series ARTHUR n. no GRENIER, or HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS DISIENSING- MECHANISM Application'filed February 10, 1932. Serial No. 592,027.

This invention relates to certain improvements 1n C0111 released dlspensmg machines of the selective type, and particularly of the type disclosed in prior Patent No. 5 1,821,501, dated September 1, 1931, in which an endless chain is provided with a series of article holding compartments formed by 'a series of shelves, which project pe'rpendicw,

larly from the links of the chain on which they aremounted, the arrangement being such that the chain may be driven step by step in one direction by an operating lever, to enable the compartments to be successively moved into a position for inspection 7 llithroug h a suitably arranged window, so that .if a suitable coin is then placed in the machine and the lever isv again operated, the

article selected willbe delivered.

f In machines of this character, prior to my 1 invention, so faras I am. aware the shelves have been spaced to correspond to thelength of the links of the chain, so that all the compartments are of the. same width. While this arrangement is desirably in dispensing packages of uniform size, as packages of cigarettes, when a machine of this type is employed for dispensing a variety of packages,

I as bars of candy, this arrangement, is not satisfactory, for the reason that packages of dif I Vferent varieties of candy, which ordinarily sell, for example, for five cents, vary widely in'width, or thickness, although inlength the variation isus'ually comparatively small. In consequence, any series of compartments of uniform'width will be much too wide for some packages andnot sufficiently wide for along by the shelf on the carrier, it was sometimes caught between the end of the shelf and the door, with resulting damage to the wrapper.

The objects of my invention are to provide a form of article holding endless chain for machines similar to that disclosed in my said prior patent, in which the distances between the article holding shelves on the chain may be varied according to the width, or thickness of the various packages which are to be placed thereon, so that a large assortment of candy bars, or thelike, all of which sell for a uniform price,but vary in size, may be, vended from the machine, and practically all u of the space on the chain, which is available for storage andsubsequent vending purposes,

may be utilized, so that packages of substan tially both greater and less width, or thickness than the length of the chain links may be dispensed. 1

A further object of my invention is so to construct the carrier, that the packages will not be likely to be damaged by the action of the carrier shelves in pushing the packages along on the dispensing door.

I accomplish these objects primarily by providingan endless chain having a series of compartments each of which comprises a bottom and two'parallel sides held in fixed relation therewith and arranging said compartments in pairs, so that the opposite sides of each pair of compartments are spaced at distances equal to the length of two links of the chain, while the adjacent sides of the pair of compartments are located side by side in difierent positions between the outer sides, so that the total widths of the two compar ments of each pair is always the same but the relative widths thereof are varied according to requirements.

Alsoby arranging the sides of each compartment with respect to the link pivot on which it swings as it passes beneath the bot 5 tom sprocket, so that the side whichpushes the package along on the dispensing door will be held at an acute angle to a radial position with respect to the axis about which it is carried, causing the package to tend to 10 'slide up on the side, sothat it will not be caught beneath edge. 7 V For a more complete disclosure of themvention, reference is now made to the follow,

ing specification in connection with" the accompanying drawing in wh1ch: 1 x

Fig. l 'is a side elevatlon of the carrier 7 actuatingmechanism. I o

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lower por-- tion of the dispensing v mechanism 'viewed from the left, hand side.

i F igsf 3 and 4 are left-sideand front views respectively of a portion of the carrier;

of the carrier compartments- As the carrier herein shown and described Fig. 5 is a detail view in perspective of one "is primarily intended to be employed in a dispensing machine such as is disclosed in Imy said prior patent, only such parts are shown, as are directly associated with the embodying the invention herein 1 tion window therein, infrontloi which the packages,'to be dispensedare successively dis- The lower sprockets f the carrier 4', only 01190126 which is shown, are mounted'on a shaft 5, and the means employed for driving the carrier,'so that the compartments are successively presented in front of the window 2 "is essentially the same as that of my said patsjga ent, saidmeans comprising a manually operable lever'6, of angular form, which 1s pivoted at 7 and is engaged with a reciprocally I enga'gea wheel 9 mountedon the shaft 5 thru 'a pawl '10,the' arrangementcbeing such that mounted actuator 8, which is arranged to when the lever is depressed to its lowest point the wheel 9 will be rotated thru 90, so that the'sprocket 8 will be rotated correspondingly and the carrier will be moved'a distance "equalto'the length of one link of the chain,

and will come to rest in th'e'position of Fig.

2. The dispensing door 12 is hinged at l3 to the casing and extends beneath the-lower I sprocket '3: of the'carrier, to support the packages in the carrier as they pass beneath the sprocket, when not released, and to swing downward, when released upon the insertion Tao: oflinkshaving an article receiving com-' oia suitable coin, and to permit a package in the carrier compartment which is being carried beneath the sprocket, to fall therefromand be delivered, as described in said patent. j v The carrier is similar to that described in (said patent, in that it comprises a series of links connected by pivot pins 14, each pair partmentmounted thereon which comprises a bottom and-two sides which are perpendic ular thereto, As each compartment which comprises a section of the chain difi'ers there package and permitting the dispensing 3 straight. V

from specifically, it will now be described in detail. V V i Y I i V 1 As best shown in Fig. 5, each section comprises a bottom'a, sides 6 and 0, which extend perpendicularly therefrom, and ears d at each 1 end of the bottom, which form a pair of links 01f the chain, each ear having two pivot holes e'and f therein, which are spaced to. equal thelength of alink and which area'dapted toreceivethe connecting pivot pins 14, said 7 pins projecting at each side ofthe chain in position to engage the-four notches in the bottom sprockets, and alsocin the top sprock ets not shown. As thus connected the adjacent sides "of adjacent sectionsare held practicallyin contact when the chain is drawn According to my invention',-th'e chaincomprises'a series of pairs'on sec-tions, a llof which are the same "in length, but in;respect to whi'ch'the' sections of each pair vary from each other 'an'd from other sections in the following particulars. "Foripexample, the two sections having ears d and cZ are 'pro- :vided, with bottoms a, a which are of dif- Q ferentwidth, the bottom a being of substantially less width than the bottom a so that while the distance fromathe side oft" to the 'sldec? is equal to twice the distance between the pivot holese'and f, ofany one: section the distance between the sides "b and is substantially less than the distance between the sides c and '0 so that a relatively thin package, as x, will occupy nearly all the space between the sides bf, esand a relatively i1 thick package, 'asiy, will occupy all the space between the sides 6 0 Similarly the bottom "a is of less width than the bottom a and the bottom a is'of greater'width than thebottom a", but the total widths-ofthe bottoms a andl c is equal to the total .widthsof the bottoms a? and a so that the distances between the opposite s des of each pair ofsections is'the same, while'the distancebetween thesides of each section is, or may bedifierent from that! between thesides ofth e' other sections. In it other words the two adj acent sides .of any pair may be located at any point'between the opposite sides of the pair, but'each section of a pair the complement'ofthe other seet1 on ,of the pain-so far the width of the space between its sidesis concerned, although the formation of the-ears cZjof 'all thesections is identical.

In practice, therefore, large variety. 01120 sizes of compartments within certain limits.

may be provided, so thatzai number of compartments of ac'width corresponding to the wldth'or thickness of any candy package, or

bar which'is'on the market, within certainlimits, may provided, thereby enabling each compartment of the-carrier toloe. completely filled, leaving no more waste space than is necessary to permit the: free delivery f a e-i e :of many packages of greater width or thickness than the length of each individual link ofthe chain. 1

link, while the others'may be varied accord-.

in "to requirements. r a

be far as'the actual dlspensmg operation is concerned, it is the same as disclosed'in my said patent, as each package in the compartments will be successively held in front of Y the inspection Window and then will be moved down to the position in which it will fall from the compartment provided the door has been released.

In order, however, that only one package ata time will be displayed at the inspection .window,thewindow is so located and the operating mechanism is so timed in relation thereto that before a compartment reaches the position for inspection, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the lower pivot of the link, as d on which the compartment is mounted, is carried so far below the horizontal line through the axis of the sprocket 3 that the link will be swung rearward from the vetricalline of the axes of the pivots above it, causing the sides 6 0 thereof to be swung away from the next compartment above, which will still be held in the position in which its sides are horizontal. In consequence the sides of the compartment will be tilted downward so that the outer ends of its sides will be held at a substantial distance from the next compartment above by the vtime the compartment is brought to rest in the inspection position. 7 In case the package is thin or narrow, as

r in Fig. 2, it will usually be held about midway. of the inspection window, while if it is relatively wide or thick, a small portion of the package may not be held in a position -in which it can be seen through the window, but

" a sufficient portion thereof may be seen to enable the purchaser to identify it.

' A variety of candy bars, or the-like, may thus be dispensed from a single machine and a sufficient numb-er may be placed therein at one time to avoid undesirably frequent replenishments. I I

When the carrier is driven forwardly, and the door 12 is held in closed position, the rear side of each section, or compartment pushes along the package therein while supported 7 on the door, and with'the construction of my said patent,'the wrapper of the package was sometimes damaged. According to the con- .struction and arrangement disclosed insaid patent, the pivotal points of the links of each section were so arranged, with relation to the position of" the sides, that the rear pivotal point of each link, considered with relation to the direction in which the carrier was than i :driven, was in the rear of the rear side of the section. I .e I r V 1 Consequently, when both'pivots'of the section were engaged with thelower sprocket, the rear-sideof the section was held in a position approximately corresponding to a radius from the c'enter of the sprocket, so that the-side which pushed the package along on the door was held in a position nearly perpendicular to the door,.and, as a result, there propelling side extends at a substantial angle of divergence from a point where a radial line from the center of the sprocket meets the side in the top surface of the door, as illustrated by the positions of the sides 6 b with relation to the radial lines 0, o in Fig. 2. In this position ofthe sides with relation tothe package, it will be apparent that, as a side acts to push along the package on the door, the package will tend to slide, or be deflected up,ontheside, so that there will be little, or no tendency for the Wrapper of the package to be caught between the door and the edge of the side andimuch less tendency the side were held in an approximately radial position with respect to the curved surface ofthe door, as disclosed in my said prior patent. r 1

I claim:

1. In a dispensing carrier of the type described, a series of pivotally connected links, of equal length, a series of pairs of article holding compartments each mounted on two adjacent links, each compartment of a pair being of different width, and the combined widths of each pair of compartments correspondingto the combined lengths of two of the links.

2. I11 a dispensing carrier of the type described, a series of pivotally connected links of equal length, each having a pair of supports projecting therefrom and providing an article receiving compartment therebetween, the distance between the supports of each link being substantially varied from that between the supports of other links, to provide the carrier with compartments of varying widths, and the total width of each successive pair of adjacent compartments being approximately the same.

3. In a dispensing carrier of the type described, a series of pairs of pivotallyconnee-ted links of equal length, a pair of shelves projecting perpendicularly from each link, each shelf being arranged to be held in proximity to the adjacent shelf of the next adjacent link, the opposite shelves of each pair 

